Judge Presses Justice Family, Greenbrier Companies for Answers as New Fraud Suits Pile Up

LEWISBURG, W.Va. — Two companies holding a $35 million federal judgment against Gov. Jim Justice's business empire have sued three of his companies in West Virginia state court, alleging the Justice family fraudulently shuffled valuable real estate near The Greenbrier resort to dodge collection of that debt.

New London Tobacco Market and Fivemile Energy filed the lawsuit July 8 in Greenbrier Circuit Court against James C. Justice Companies and Oakhurst Club, a related entity. A nearly identical suit was filed the next day in neighboring Monroe County.

According to the complaint, the two companies won a $34,990,986.50 federal judgment against James C. Justice Companies and an affiliated coal company in Kentucky in 2024, stemming from a lawsuit originally filed in 2012. After registering that judgment in West Virginia, creating liens against Justice assets in Greenbrier and Monroe counties, the plaintiffs allege James C. Justice Companies quitclaimed several valuable properties — including land near the historic resort and a roughly 500-acre farm straddling both counties — to Oakhurst Club for no payment.

The deeds themselves, the complaint says, explicitly describe the transfers as between "related parties" for "no consideration." The lawsuit alleges those transfers violated West Virginia's Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act, since the Justice companies were already indebted to the plaintiffs when the properties were moved to a related entity. The suit further accuses Oakhurst Club and Justice's lender, Carter Bank, of conspiring to use the transferred properties as collateral for new loans while the judgment loomed, despite Carter Bank allegedly knowing about the pending debt.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to void the property transfers, declare their judgment liens superior to Carter Bank's claims, and allow the land to be sold to help satisfy the multimillion-dollar judgment, along with damages and attorney fees.

The state court filings arrived the same week a separate, related federal case reached its own inflection point: a federal judge in Beckley ordered the Justice family to explain by July 21 why he shouldn't move swiftly toward ruling on a separate bid by an Omni Hotels-affiliated lender to install a receiver over Greenbrier operations, after months of delay tied to a still-unclosed $500 million refinancing deal.

The case is New London Tobacco Market, Inc. v. James C. Justice Companies, Inc., Greenbrier Circuit Court case number CC-13-2026-C-97. Case docket: https://trellis.law/case/54025/cc-13-2026-c-97/new-london-tobacco-market-inc-v-james-c-justice-companies-inc